stapley



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

- IJV' VEJV' TOR (No Model.)

No. 464,737. Patented Dec. 8, 1891-.

WITNESSES n Away J (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

' W. S. STAPLEY.

SHAPING PRESS. Y

Patented Dec. 8, 1891.

WITNESSES WILLIAM S. STAPLEY, OF MERIDEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THEMERIDEN SILVER PLATE COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

SHAPING-PRESS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 464,737, datedDecember 8, 1891.

Application filed July 8, 1891.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM S. STAPLEY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Meriden, in the county of New Haven and State ofConnecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inShaping-Presses and I do hereby declare the following to be afull,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

My invention relates to the class of shap ing-presses by which hollowmetallic tableware, cane-heads, and similar articles are embossed andotherwise ornamented by waterpressure from within while the blanks areinclosed in suitable dies, and has for its object to simplify andcheapen the construction and operation of the press, to produce, inbrief, a construction which shall be easily operated, practicallyimpossible to get out of repair, and always ready for use, it beingimmaterial, so far as my present invention is concerned, whether thepressure upon the water in the blank is produced by hydraulic means, byan ordinary rotary or cam press, or by a drop-press.

In order to accomplish the desired result, I have devised the simple andnovel self-locking press, of which the following description, inconnection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, numbersbeing used to denote the severalparts.

Figure 1 is a vertical section of the oper ative parts of my novelpress, the position being at the instant of the beginning of thepressure upon the interior of the blank, the plunger being still in theraised position; Fig. 2, a similar view, the position of the parts beingat the extreme of pressure upon interior of the blank, the plunger beingat the lowered position; Fig. 3, a plan view of the die-block with thedies having a blank within them in position therein and Fig.4 isa viewcorresponding with Figs. 1 and 2, except that a solid plunger is used.

1 denotes the die-block, which in use is clamped down upon the bed orbolster plate (not shown) in any ordinary or preferred manner.

2 denotes a downwardly and inwardly tapering recess in the die-block toreceive the Serial No. 398,763. (No model.)

dies 3. Three, four, or any suitable number of dies may be used, threebeing the number used in the press from which these drawings were made.The dies are suitably engraved in the usual manner to produce the raisedornamental figure desired upon the blank. The dies may be placed incontact with the die-block itself, but are preferably placed withina-tapering sleeve 4 and rest upon a plate 5, having a shank 6, whichextends downward through an opening in the bottom of the die-block andrests upon a wedge 7 on a bar 8, which lies in a recess in the underside of the die-block. At one end of the bar 8 is a block 9, which isadapted to be engaged by a cam 10 when it is desired to move the barlongitudinally to cause the wedge to lift the dies by engagement withshank 6. The wedge is provided with an operating-handle 11 forconvenience in use, and is also provided with a hub 12,which engages ananglepiece 13, by which it is retained in operative position. At theopposite end of bar 8 I preferably place a block 14, having a hub 15.The bar is returned to its normal position after it has been moved tolift the dies and the cam has been turned back to its normal position bymeans of a strong spring 16, one end of which presses against block 14,the other against the die-block, said spring being held in position bythe hub 15 on block 14, and by a similar hub on the die-block.

17 denotes the head-block having a shank 18, by which it is attached tothe ordinary gate or head of a press. The head-block is provided with arecess 19 to receive a plug 20, which is itself provided with an opening21 through it, in which lies a plunger 22. The upper portion of the plugis cut away, leaving only an eXteriorly-threaded central portion 23. Theobject of this cut-away portion is to form a seat for a hydraulicangle-washer 24, said washer being held in place by a nut 25, whichengages the threaded central portion. 'The function of this washer is toprevent the escape of water from recess 19 in use, as will be more fullyexplained. The upper end of the plunger is also cut away in a similarmanner, leaving a threaded central portion 26.

The object of cutting away the top of the plunger is to provide a seatfor a hydraulic angle-washer27. This washer is held in place by a nut28, which engages the threaded central portion of the plunger. Inpractice I cut away the outer faces of nuts and 2S slightly, so as toform annular recesses 29 be 'tween the nuts and the washers, so that assoon as pressure is applied water will enter these recesses and expandthe angle portion of the washers outward, thereby rendering itabsolutely impossible that there should be leakage of water.

As already stated, the principle of my invention is equally adapted to ahydraulic press, to an ordinary rotary or cam press, or to a drop press.In order to adapt my present invention to a rotary or cam press, Iprovide a minute longitudinal opening30 through the plunger. The exactsize of this opening is of course not of the essence of my invention, asit must necessarily vary to meet the requirements of use. In the pressfrom which these drawings were made, opening 30 is about onethirty-second of an inch in diameter. I also provide in thedie-bloclc,in the shank thereof, as shown in the drawings, a minuteopening 31, leading into a larger opening 32. Within the larger openingand closing the minute opening is a valve The valve is held in operativeposition by a spring 8i, which is itself held in position and itstension adjusted by a screw-plug 85.

36 denotes an orifice leading from opening 32 for the escape of waterafter the valve shall have been lifted. In practice in rotary and campresses spring Set is graduated to yield through the pressure upon thevalve of water passing through opening 31 at the instant thepredetermined pressure per square inch upon the blank within the diesshall have been reached. The pressure employed in the press from whichthese drawings were made is approximately one hundred and fifty tons tothe square inch. It will of course be understood that any amount ofpressure that can ordinarily be required in ornamenting small-sizedarticles can be produced in either rotary or cam presses, provided arelief-valve of this class is used, so as to prevent the press frombecoming set. In either hydraulic or drop presses it is unnecessary toprovide an opening through the plunger or a reliefvalve. In hydraulicpresses any required amount of pressure can be produced, and when thepredetermined pressure has been reached any ordinary trip mechanism,such as is in common use, may be employed, which will act to relieve thepressure, or the degree of pressure that is being generated may beindicated by a gage and the pump stopped when the required pressurchasbeen reached. In drop-presses the degree of pressure is of courseregulated by the weight and fall of the drop.

In Fig. 4 I have illustrated aform in which the plungeris made solid andthe relief-valve is wholly done away with. It should be noted, however,that the use of the relief-valve and thus making the press self-locking.

the plunger with a minute opening through it is in no way objectionable,either in hydraulic or in drop presses. In ordinary use with either dropor hydraulic presses a relief-valve will be found valuable, but notnecessary. For instance, should a bubble of air form in recess 19 therelief-valve will. allow it to pass out.

37 denotes the blank from which the article is to be formed and which isspun or drawn to approximately the shape of the finished article, theblank fitting closely in the recess in the dies. In practice the blankis provided with a flange 38, and a recess 39 is formed in the tops ofthe dies which just receives it, this flange, as well as the entireupper ends of the dies, being covered by a plug 20 in use, The d-ieswith the blank inclosed therein are set down in place in tapering sleeve4:, their lower ends resting on plate 5. ater is then poured into theblank, filling it full.

In starting the press the die-block is removed from the gate or head,then inverted and recess 19 filled half full (more or less) with water.The plug is then pressed in until the water is level with the face ofthe plug. The plunger is then pressed in until its outer faces are levelwith the plu Thehcad-block with the plug and plunger in position, as inFig. 1, is then attached to the gate or head of the press in theordinary or any preferred manner.

When the pressure is produced by a hydraulic press working from below,the faces of the dies with the blank therein are moved up against theplug, as in Fig. 1, which seals the dies and presses the water in thehcad-block against the plunger, forcing thelatter against the water inthe dies, as in Fig. 2, until the required pressure is obtained.Ordinary tripping mechanism (not shown) is preferably used, which willstop the pump when the required pressure is reached, or, as statedabove, the pressure maybe indicated by a gage. If tripping mechanism isused, after it has acted the die-block and dies will drop down to theiroriginal position, leaving the plunger standing out from the head-block,as in Fig. 2. The operatorpushes the plungerin, as before, until itsouter face is level with the face of the plug. The dies are then liftedin the manner described and the finished blank removed thercfrom, afterwhich the dies are thoroughly dried and the operation may be repeated asbefore. Each blank to be operated upon is filled with water after thedies are in position in the die-block. The headblock does not require tobe removed and refilled with water, as there is no waste of water upwardrelatively to the head-block, which ITO causes the water in recess 19 topress the plunger downward from the position shown in Fig. 1 to thatshown in Figs. 2 and 4.

Havingthus described my invention, I claim- 1. In a press of the classdescribed, the

combination, with the die-block and dies adapted to inclose a blank, ofa head-block having a recess adapted to contain water, a plug in saidrecess having an opening through it, and a plunger filling the openingin the plug, whereby pressure exerted upon the plug when the dies are incontact will act to force the plunger downward into the opening in thedies.

2. The combination, with the die-block and dies, of a head-block havinga recess adapted to contain water, a minute opening 31, leading to alarger opening 32, a spring-actuated valve in said larger opening and anescape-orifice 36, a plug in said recess having an opening through itand a plunger filling the opening in said plug and having a minuteopening through it, whereby when a predetermined pressure has beenreached the pressure of water passing through minute openings 30 and 31will raise the valve and permit the escape of water, thereby relievingthe pressure.

4. The combination, with the head-block and dies and a plate 5 uponwhich the dies rest and which is provided with a shank 6, of a barhaving a wedge 7 and blocks 9 and 14, a cam adapted to engage block 9 tomove the bar horizontally, so that the wedge will raise the die-block,and a spring bearing against block 14 to return the bar and wedge to itsnormal position when the cam is moved backward.

In testimony whereofI affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

